


To Take What’s Mine

by burningcrow



Series: Crimson Alcohol (A BVB/Palaye Royale Vampires AU) [10]
Category: Black Veil Brides, Palaye Royale (Band)
Genre: Andy gives Good Advice, Emerson is In Denial, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Hate Sex, Light Angst, M/M, Sex in Bunks, Smut, Vampire!Jinxx, idiots to lovers, kind of? they think they hate each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:55:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burningcrow/pseuds/burningcrow
Summary: Emerson feels far more hurt than he reasonably should about Jinxx’s involvement in whatever happened with Remington.
Relationships: Andy Biersack/Remington Leith (mentioned), Emerson Barrett/Jeremy "Jinxx" Ferguson
Series: Crimson Alcohol (A BVB/Palaye Royale Vampires AU) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772101
Comments: 66
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i’ve pretty much taken over this AU entirely now. Sorry for ages since last post, i’ve had mad writers block.

Emerson’s patience was wearing very thin, very fast. 

He was quite proud of himself - as far as he could tell, nobody had noticed him acting weird after Jinxx had kissed him. Sure, Jake’d had that shit-eating grin on his face when he told Emerson he would be sharing a room with the older vampire on their hotel night, but that was just Jake being himself. Emerson had just smiled sweetly and braced himself to pretend nothing was abnormal for a night.

So of fucking course his idiot brother had to go make things harder for him. Andy had made sure that the.... arrangement he’d set up was as far away from Emerson’s room as possible, but he didn’t seem to consider that Jinxx would be coming back to the other human’s room. So now Emerson was stuck with a vampire roommate who very clearly just fucked his brother and was now in the mood to fuck with Emerson’s head. He’d never snapped a Sharpie in half before, but it looked like it might happen tonight.

“Emerson. Emerson! What’re you doing,” Jinxx groaned out in that soft, drawling tone that definitely didn’t get to Emerson.

“The fuck does it look like I’m doing, fangs? I’m drawing.”

“Aw, why so snappy, angel? I was just asking a question.” Emerson didn’t need to look up to know Jinxx was pouting. He also didn’t need to look up to know that Jinxx absolutely reeked of sex. 

“Go take a shower, dude, you stink.” The younger man was just tired. He wasn’t in the mood for Jinxx’s unending teasing, didn’t want to look up and see that soft grin, didn’t wish he was the one Jinxx had been fucking-

“Fine, fine, I’ll shower. You’re welcome to join me...” The vampire’s lips quirked up into a smile as he walked away, leaving the drummer to his thoughts.

Jinxx really, really hated his mind at this moment. Sure, the little thing with Remington was fun - he was hot, and sex was a rare luxury on tour when he was trapped in a bus with so many other people. That didn’t mean he felt good right now. He assumed that Emerson was just annoyed because he’d been interrupted - but some desperate part of him wished it was something else. It had been weeks since they kissed, but Jinxx wondered if Emerson thought about it nearly as much as he did.

Emerson sighed as he went to go throw his drawing into his bag. Sleep. Sleep sounded good right about now. He didn’t have to think when he was sleeping. By the time Jinxx stepped out of the bathroom, the other man was fast asleep, looking more at peace than Jinxx had seen him in weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emerson is sulking. Jinxx is sulking. Remington is tired. Andy and Jake make a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who’s back, back again
> 
> this chapter is incredibly dialogue heavy. i promise the next one will have more happening, i just needed to set up Things (and also give you all a little insight into the dynamics of the group)

“So what’s up with him?” Jake gestured towards Emerson, who was sat - more like curled up - on a seat in the tour bus. Jake had never seen somebody smoke a joint angrily before.

“God knows. He’s been like that all day, and shoos me away whenever I try to ask what’s up.” Remington grumbled out, still exhausted from the previous night. “I think I have an idea, but Emerson would refuse to admit to it.” He wanted to punch whoever decided to let Jinxx and Emerson share a room, but that’d mean punching the man sat next to him, and Jake was far too comfortable to cuddle up next to for Remington to do that.

“Do you think it’s because of...” Jake didn’t need to finish the sentence. He’d definitely made a mistake the previous night with the room arrangements. Putting Lonny with Emerson like CC had suggested would’ve been a much safer choice, but he’d wanted to see what would happen with Jinxx, and the whole tour bus was now paying for it. At least nothing had gotten broken yet.

Speak of the devil. At that exact moment, Jinxx walked in from where he and CC had been - out getting blood from wherever they could find it - and CC shot Jake what they had deemed The Look. Nothing good ever caused CC to give him The Look. As soon as Jinxx spotted Emerson, he shoved the rest of the blood bags into CC’s arms before disappearing off to his bunk.

“Well, that’s definitely reassuring.” Remington’s voice was scratchy and absolutely _dripping_ with sarcasm. “I swear, if Andrew figures out that Emerson’s pissed off because of Jinxx he’ll tear him limb from limb.” It was barely an exaggeration - the demon was fiercely protective of all of them. Remington knew if he wanted to make it to the end of the tour without any major injuries in either band, whatever was happening with his brother and the oldest vampire needed fixing quickly.

“I’ll talk to Andy about it.” Maybe not the best choice for advice, but Jake’s usual choice - Jinxx - was currently unavailable, and the younger vampire knew more about the Palaye brothers than the rest of them. Smiling gently at Remington, he pressed a quick kiss to the human’s forehead before going to locate the other singer.

Remington giggled a little when Jake kissed him, then sighed and pulled the blankets in his bunk back over himself as he curled back up in his bed. He was too tired for this. He just hoped Jake and Andy could make the other two see sense before it got too messy.

———

“Hey, Andy, can I talk to you for a second?” Jake’s voice jolted Andy out of his concentrated state, causing him to nearly scrawl eyeliner across half his face. The younger vampire glanced up at his friend, noticing a serious expression on his face that he rarely saw unless something big was happening.

“What’s up, dude? You nearly ruined my makeup,” Andy sighed, turning to properly face the guitarist.

“I’m getting sick of seeing Emerson and Jinxx like this. You know Emerson better than I do, and I was hoping you could help me figure out some way to make them both less bitchy.” Jake lazily reached up to ruffle Andy’s hair, desperate for something to calm himself down. Andy smiled and leaned into his touch briefly, before straightening up and moving towards the door of the bus. 

“We should probably talk about this outside of where they could hear. If they find out we’re talking about them, it’ll make those two even worse, and I don’t want to see that.” As the two of them went to leave the bus, Jake shot a quick look of acknowledgement towards CC and Lonny, quietly telling his boyfriend to look after Remington while they were outside. CC nodded, pulling Lonny with him to walk to the human’s bunk.

“So what the fuck are we supposed to do? Emerson’s not talking to Remington, and Jinxx looks to have decided on hiding from the world in his bunk. I’m guessing they want to hide the fact that anything’s happening from the rest of us.” Jake was talking faster than normal, wanting to get ideas from Andy before the two people they were discussing decided to find out where they’d gone. “I’m not sure even they want to admit to themselves that anything’s up.”

“Well, for starters, we definitely aren’t getting Sebastian too involved in this. He and the demon would probably flay Jinxx if they knew he was what was making Emerson act like this.” Andy’s refusal to mention Andrew by name slightly amused Jake - it was no secret that the demon scared Andy, even if Remington had promised him that he’d make sure Andrew ‘played nice’, whatever that meant. Still, he had a point. The oldest of the brothers had threatened to kill Andy if he hurt Remington, and he knew the same level of protection applied to Emerson too.

“What we need is to make Emerson and Jinxx talk. They aren’t getting anywhere sulking like this. The room-sharing thing didn’t work because of what we did with Remington - of course Emerson didn’t want to talk to Jinxx so soon after that.” Jake was still mentally berating himself for that - if Emerson had feelings for Jinxx, like everyone else on the bus was pretty certain of, putting him in a room with Jinxx right after _that_ would obviously set him off.

“Once they’ve cooled off a little, we could probably get them alone together in the bus? I’ll get Remi to ask Sebastian when he and Andrew are planning to go on a date next, and then time it so the rest of us are also off the bus at the same time.” Andy’s voice was calm - calmer than Jake’s - and he seemed pretty sure of his idea. Maybe asking Andy for advice wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Jake nodded, smiling at the singer. Andrew and Sebastian seemed to go on a date practically whenever they had free time, so it wasn’t like they’d have to wait too long. Emerson couldn’t sulk forever - eventually Jinxx would come to bother him again, and if all went well, something might finally happen to make Emerson accept that he doesn’t hate the vampire as much as he thinks he does.

“Well, it’s settled then. Let’s go back before they start wondering where we’ve gone.” Jake grabbed onto Andy’s hand, pulling him in for a soft hug before walking back in the direction of their tour bus.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy finally manages to get everyone off the bus. Emerson and Jinxx finally “talk”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for you all. Sorry for the cliffhanger at the end, but I need to focus on studying right now and I couldn’t spend any more time fitting the ~next part~ into this chapter.

Andy was laying in his bunk watching a movie on his phone when Remington suddenly threw himself into his boyfriend’s arms. “Andrew and Sebastian are going out together in about,” Remington paused to check his watch, “Half an hour. Meaning, we have half an hour to come up with a convincing enough excuse to get everyone else off the bus without Jinxx or Emerson tagging along.” The younger singer glanced up at his boyfriend, moving the vampire’s hand to make him put his phone down before kissing his forehead and curling in closer. “Do you have any ideas?”

Dropping his phone, Andy wrapped an arm around his boyfriend’s torso and nodded slowly. “We shouldn’t leave all at once, they’ll wonder where we’re going. I’ll tell Jake to get Lonny and CC to go out hunting, since we need more blood anyway, and then once they’ve left we can just say we’re going out shopping or something. Jinxx doesn’t like to hunt when it’s not totally dark out - some hang-up from being old enough to remember when legitimate vampire hunts happened - and Emerson already went shopping yesterday.”

Remington grinned, pulling Andy up for a kiss and giggling softly when the vampire moved down to nip gently at his neck. “Perfect. Hopefully something will finally happen.” He laid back down, passing Andy’s phone over to him so he could text Jake the plan.

———

“We’re going out hunting. See you guys later,” Jake called out, pulling his boyfriend and Lonny out of the tour bus. 

“Try not to get killed.” Emerson was quiet, but Jake’s enhanced hearing could still notice a happier tone in his voice than he’d had the past few days. Jinxx echoed Emerson’s statement, but Jake knew his best friend was actually serious. The two of them had adapted to modern life pretty well for two vampires from the 1700s (even if, as the resident demon had pointed out, they’d clearly barely matured since then) but Jinxx always seemed to be far more cautious than him.

———

“Where are you two going?” Emerson mumbled, watching Andy open the bus door with Remington still half hanging off him. 

“Shopping. Rem wanted to see if there was anything good around here before we left.” Andy hoped Emerson couldn’t tell what they were doing. Realising his entire friendship group was conspiring behind his back probably wouldn’t help the ‘Get Jinxx and Emerson to Talk’ cause.

“Have fun. I’m going to enjoy the - I don’t know - 2 hours of peace and quiet I’ll get with all of you off the bus.” Emerson smirked into his drawing. Definitely not peace and quiet - Jinxx didn’t seem to be going anywhere - but he’d take what he could get.

———

Surprisingly, Emerson did get almost a full 45 minutes of peace before the vampire reappeared. He’d finally managed to finish that drawing Jinxx had gotten blood on a month ago, and quite frankly he thought the reddish-brown stain added to the effect. Briefly focusing on his magic, he moved the small ball of light above his head to check the drawing against some better lighting than what he usually got on a tour bus. Perfect.

“Finally stopped sulking?”

Damn it.

“You’re barely one to talk. Spent enough time hiding in your bunk yet?” Emerson was practically growling at the vampire, but it was true. Outside of shows, he’d seen Jinxx for maybe 30 minutes in the past week, and that was usually only when he went to go get blood from the fridge.

“Come on, I’m not that bad.”

“Yes, you are. Now if you’ll excuse me, I finally completed this drawing that you nearly ruined, and I’m taking a celebratory nap.” Emerson was lying about sleeping, but he needed to get to his bunk before Jinxx noticed him blushing. Curse his traitorous body. Last time he checked, he didn’t even like the vampire that much.

———

Jinxx sighed, letting his head drop against the wall of the bus. Emerson had disappeared to his bunk almost as soon as he’d tried to talk to him. Everyone else was out, so it wasn’t even like he had someone to complain at - then again, it wasn’t like he talked about any of this to them anyway.

An idea suddenly flickered into Jinxx’s head. Everyone else is out. If ever there was a chance to have some fun with the human, it was now. Smirking, he stood up and stalked towards the younger man’s bunk.

“Angel? Come on, I know you aren’t sleeping.”

“What do you want, fangs.” Emerson had been waiting for this. Damn vampires and their weird abilities that Emerson still didn’t fully understand. Of course Jinxx would know he was awake.

“Aw, open the curtain, I want to see you when I’m talking to you.” Jinxx doubted Emerson would do it, but it was worth a try.

“Piss off, I’m not opening the curtain just because you asked me to.” Emerson only refused because Jinxx was being annoying. Not because he didn’t want to see Jinxx’s stupid, grinnning face, not because he was blushing, not because he didn’t know what he’d do if he saw the guitarist right now-

Jinxx sighed. This could either end well or make Emerson hate him even more. He laughed, then pulled the curtain open and made eye contact with Emerson. “Can’t hide forever, angel. Wanted to see your face.” 

Emerson froze. He could absolutely tug the curtain shut right now - there was a whole space on the whiteboard in the lounge dedicated to the rule that you didn’t open someone else’s curtain - but Jinxx was right there. Giggling, and staring at Emerson with a fondness he’d never seen from the vampire before. 

“Ever going to stop staring, princess?” Emerson’s voice was wavering with uncertainty as he looked at the vampire, but he forced himself to sound confident.

Jinxx blinked in surprise at the pet name, then released the curtain just long enough to pull Emerson out of the bunk, careful not to hurt the human. Afterwards he didn’t quite loosen his grip on the younger man, but held him just close enough to make a blush begin to rise on his cheeks. Emerson involuntarily curled into the vampire, eyes widening in shock before he regained his composure and looked up at Jinxx.

“...The fuck?” Emerson mumbled, slowly relaxing into Jinxx’s arms. The vampire felt surprisingly warm, warmer than he’d ever felt to Emerson before.

Jinxx just grinned, leaning down to drop a cautious kiss into Emerson’s hair. “Not so grumpy now, hmm?” He moved away slightly, just enough to make eye contact with the human.

“Fuck off, fangs,” Emerson groaned out as he shoved the vampire away, “Hate you.” Jinxx noticed a playful glint in the drummer’s eyes, and lunged forward to push the younger man up against his bunk. Emerson yelped at the force, then laughed and pulled Jinxx against himself long enough to spin him around so he was pinned up against the bunk instead.

After that, it was a blur for Emerson - he couldn’t tell if their play-fighting lasted minutes or hours. All he knew was that now he was laying down on the couch in the lounge, and Jinxx was pinning him down with a smug - but maybe a little cute - look on his face. He sighed, exhausted, and relaxed under Jinxx.

“You look adorable like this, angel. You say you hate me, but here you are, blushing, pinned down under me.” Jinxx practically purred at Emerson, leaning down so his face was only inches away from the human’s. His smug confidence shattered as Emerson reached up to kiss him, taking the vampire by surprise as Emerson pulled him in even closer. When Jinxx’s mind caught up with his body, he giggled into Emerson’s lips and kissed him back just as roughly. When Emerson pulled away, he was grinning, panting for air.

”I know what you want, princess, and we probably don’t have much longer on our own. You gonna keep lying there looking surprised, or are you gonna fuck me?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinxx and Emerson finally fuck. Whether or not that means they’ll get anywhere with their feelings... remains to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you look at that, it’s Crow back with another chapter he wrote at 1am.
> 
> Sorry for any spelling mistakes, I am unbelievably tired and wrote this chapter in my phone notes app.

_Well_ , Jinxx thought, _wasn’t quite expecting that_. Curse Emerson and his stupid pretty face and kissable smile and cute voice- shit. Emerson was waiting for his answer. Composing himself as well as he could, he pulled the human up so he was effectively sat on Emerson’s lap. “Now why would I do that, angel? You keep saying you hate me.” He lazily tucked his arms around Emerson’s torso, smiling when the younger man leaned into him. 

“Aw, don’t lie. You’ve been thinking about this for weeks. I even have the marks to show for it.” Emerson knew there was a waver in his voice betraying how much he wanted this, but he forced himself to sound confident as he leaned his neck back to expose the two tiny scars from where Jinxx bit him a few weeks ago. 

Jinxx giggled softly, pressing a kiss to the marks as his hands slid underneath Emerson’s shirt. “Little brat. Someone needs to put you in your place.” Emerson couldn’t help the needy whine from Jinxx’s words, and moaned weakly when the vampire’s hands brushed against his nipples. Reaching down, he pulled Jinxx’s hands out of his shirt and guided them to the hem, slowly sliding it off before tugging Jinxx in for another kiss. This one was gentler than the others, but Emerson could still feel Jinxx’s fangs teasing at his bottom lip ever so softly.

Jinxx pulled away, gripping onto Emerson’s hand and pulling him to his feet. “Shouldn’t do this on the couch. The others would kill us.”

Emerson chuckled, resting his head against the vampire’s shoulder. “Where are you thinking we should, princess?”

Jinxx smirked, then shoved Emerson up against the nearest wall, gathering his wrists in his hand and pinning them above the human’s head. “Think I might just take you right here. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He pressed his thigh in between Emerson’s legs, quietly smug when the other man instinctively spread them.

“Fuck, please Jinxx...” Emerson practically whimpered as Jinxx ground his thigh against Emerson’s crotch. He felt helpless like this, unable to do anything but watch as the vampire teased him. 

“Patience, love.” Jinxx briefly released Emerson’s hands to take off his own shirt, then reached down to unzip Emerson’s pants and pull them down around his waist. He leaned in, lips ghosting over Emerson’s exposed neck and slowly trailing down to his collarbone. “So gorgeous for me....” 

Emerson whined, suddenly anxious with Jinxx’s mouth - his fangs - so close to his skin. Jinxx seemed to notice, as he moved away and pressed a kiss to the younger man’s cheek. “Don’t worry, angel. I won’t bite unless you say I can.” Relaxing, Emerson wrapped an arm around Jinxx and held him closer, moaning at the contact. Jinxx licked at his neck, smiling at Emerson’s reaction.

“Stop-stop teasing, Jinxx, please-“ Emerson felt somewhat embarrassed at how willingly he was begging for the vampire, but the lust clouding his mind stopped him from caring too much.

“As you wish, angel.” Jinxx moved away to pull off his own pants, then scooped Emerson into his arms for just long enough to pull the younger man’s pants the rest of the way off and slide off his boxers, smirking at the pre-cum stain. Emerson nearly screamed when Jinxx finally wrapped his hand around his cock, but he only gave it a few feather-light strokes before putting the human back down - facing the wall this time - and tracing his hands over Emerson’s ass. 

“Lube is- it’s in my bag on my bunk, the little pocket.” Emerson was panting now, desperate for any sort of contact. He whimpered softly when Jinxx’s hands left him, but the vampire was only gone for a few seconds. When he returned, Emerson heard the faint click of the bottle opening, and then felt the other man’s fingers teasing at his hole. He moaned as one of those teasing fingers slowly pressed in, bringing a hand up to his mouth when Jinxx found his prostate.

Jinxx grinned against his neck, bringing his free hand up to pull Emerson’s hand away before holding both his hands behind his back. “Don’t, angel. Wanna hear you coming apart for me.” He carefully added a second finger, kissing Emerson’s neck as he heard the younger man’s needy whine.

“Please, Jinxx, just fuck me already, I need it.” Emerson heard a low chuckle from the vampire as his fingers brushed against his prostate again. He moaned at that, before wincing slightly at the intrusion as he felt a third finger inside him.

“Ah, but it’s so fun seeing you like this. All open and desperate for me.” Despite his words, Jinxx only pumped his fingers in and out a few more times before removing them. He was trying to hide it - Emerson was cute like this - but he was as desperate for this as the human was.

Emerson sighed softly as Jinxx removed his fingers, the feeling of emptiness almost unbearable to him. He leaned back as far as Jinxx’s grip on his hands would allow, looking back at the vampire and catching his lips in a kiss. This one was rough, Jinxx’s fangs pressing against his lips hard enough to draw blood. Emerson moaned into the kiss, writhing against Jinxx as he pressed him harder against the wall of the bus. As he pulled away, Jinxx licked softly at the small droplets of blood running down Emerson’s mouth. “M’ sorry for making you bleed like that.”

“It’s okay, princess. I kinda liked it,” Emerson admitted, blushing. “Now come on, we probably don’t have too long left on our own and I need you inside me.”

“Of course, angel.” Jinxx released Emerson’s hands, then grabbed the lube from where he’d set it down and slid his boxers off before finally wrapping a hand around his aching cock. He opened the lube again, dripping some into his hand before covering his length. He couldn’t help the soft whimpers he let out as his fingers caught on the head, but before he could get too distracted he turned his attention back to Emerson. Pressing his chest against Emerson’s back, he slowly slid his length into Emerson, giving the younger man a moment to adjust once he bottomed out. “So tight, fuck, you feel so good,” Jinxx breathed against Emerson’s skin, groaning as the other man pushed his ass back against Jinxx’s cock.

“Fuck, please move, fuck me Jinxx,“ Emerson panted, and then finally Jinxx started to move, thrusting into the younger man. Emerson’s head tilted back as Jinxx’s cock moved against his prostate, words falling into moans as Jinxx moved slightly to hit it on every thrust. “Right there, please Jinxx-“

Jinxx picked up his pace, gripping Emerson’s hips as he fucked into him. “Gorgeous, so pretty for me, fuck,” he purred into Emerson’s ear, earning a whine in response as he pulled Emerson even closer. He could hear Emerson’s pulse, and ran his tongue over his fangs. He wanted to bite, needed to, but he’d promised Emerson-

“Bite me, please Jinxx, I need to feel it.” Emerson was definitely embarrassed at the admission, but he’d been craving it ever since that first time that Jinxx bit him. The little devil.

Jinxx’s eyes widened in shock, and he leaned in closer to the human’s neck as he thrusted in harder. “Are you sure, angel?”

“So sure. Please, fuck,  please ,” Emerson moaned, tilting his head to give Jinxx easier access to his neck.

Jinxx kissed Emerson’s neck before sinking his fangs in, letting out a low moan as the blood filled his mouth. It felt so good, having the human completely submitting to him, begging him for more. Jinxx was almost so engrossed in the pleasure that he barely processed what Emerson said next:

“Jinxx, god, I’m gonna cum, please, right there-“ Emerson leaned back and dropped his head against Jinxx’s shoulder, whimpering as Jinxx pulled away from where he’d bitten him. Letting out a loud moan, he wrapped a hand around his leaking cock, pulling in time with Jinxx’s thrusts. Jinxx bit into his neck again and he practically screamed, coming over his hand and the wall. Jinxx’s thrusts started to grow sloppy, and within seconds he was coming too, releasing inside Emerson as he drank the human’s blood. He pulled away, licking at the wounds to seal them closed before he slid out of Emerson, smirking at Emerson’s whimper. They both stood there for a second catching their breath before Jinxx spoke.

“That what you wanted, angel?” Jinxx murmured. He turned Emerson around to face him, kissing his forehead as the younger man stared at him.

“Y-yeah,” Emerson tried to gather his mind together enough to talk properly, but it was still reeling from what had just happened. He sighed, leaning into Jinxx to steady himself. “You gonna help clean this up?”

Jinxx chuckled, petting Emerson’s hair. “Of course, princess. You sure you can stand up at the moment? You look a little shaky.”

“If that’s an offer for me to go lie down while you do the cleaning, I accept.” Emerson grinned sleepily at the vampire, only slightly too aware of the feeling of Jinxx’s come dripping down his thighs.

“Let’s get you cleaned up first.” Jinxx whispered, looking down at Emerson’s legs. Jinxx picked Emerson up, carrying him over to the too-small bus bathroom and grabbing a spare washcloth to clean the human. He set Emerson down, and slowly cleaned him off, deliberately sliding his hands over his inner thighs as he worked. Emerson whined at the feeling of Jinxx’s hands on his thighs, and Jinxx kissed him before scooping him up again and carrying him over to his bunk before going to grab their discarded clothes. Once they were both dressed - and the remaining marks were cleaned from the wall - Jinxx quietly crawled into the younger man’s bunk and cuddled Emerson close.

“Still hate you, y’know.” Emerson’s voice was thick with exhaustion as he playfully slapped Jinxx’s chest, curling into him slightly.

“Hate you too, angel. Besides, I think the others are about to get back, so I’d better go.” Pointedly ignoring the ache in his chest at the thought of leaving Emerson, he climbed out of the bunk and walked over to his own, lying down and pulling the curtain closed. 

Emerson sighed, watching Jinxx leave before tugging his curtain closed and rolling over to face the wall. Something about Jinxx leaving him so quickly made his whole body hurt, but he decided to just blame it on the bites littering his neck. Looks like he’d be stealing Remington’s concealer again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian is incredibly confused. So is the rest of the group. 
> 
> Remington seems to know what’s happening, though, and he’s got a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a filler chapter, to give you all an insight into what the others are thinking about what’s happening. Originally this and the next chapter were going to be one chapter, but it got kinda long so I’m splitting it into two parts.

Sebastian wonders what he did to deserve this. On a purely surface level, this tour was going better than any they’ve done before - the crowds had been invariably wonderful, and they’d had a lot of fun both meeting fans and hanging out with the members of BVB.

There was, uh, one issue, though.

Sebastian had never seen Emerson act quite like _this_ before. He could usually get a pretty good read on his brothers’ emotions, could tell when Remington was feeling lonely, or Emerson was feeling anxious. This, however? This was something entirely different.

Emerson was laying on the sofa, sharpie in hand, laughing at some terrible joke that CC made. Jinxx was walking in, and something changed in Emerson’s demeanour, instantly glancing up at the older man and making some rude comment about his appearance. Most people would just assume that Emerson disliked Jinxx - his younger brother had indeed been known to clash with the bands they toured with - but Sebastian knew better. If Emerson really hated Jinxx, as he routinely claimed to do, he wouldn’t even bat an eye when Jinxx appeared. That was as much as Sebastian knew, however - something like this had never happened before, and his inability to figure out how to help his brother (was this even something Emerson needed “help” with?) scared him somewhat.

Despite the amount of time Jake and Jinxx had known each other, Jake knew surprisingly little about his best friend’s emotions. He could figure out the basic stuff, why wouldn’t he, but as soon as Jinxx started acting weird he was lost.

And  damn,  Jinxx was acting _weird_ right about now. He’d only just walked onto the bus, but now he and Emerson were bickering about something, and Jake couldn’t work out what. Looking around at the others, he caught Sebastian’s eye, and a raised eyebrow confirmed the oldest Palaye member wasn’t entirely sure what was happening either. It wasn’t like Jinxx to bicker like this, and by Sebastian’s reaction he could tell that this wasn’t normal behaviour for Emerson either. Remington walked in, bleary eyed and quite frankly adorable, and sat himself down in Jake’s lap. “Having fun watching the show, Jake?” Remington’s voice was thick with sleep, but Jake noted an amused tone that showed the human had noticed the atmosphere in the bus too.

“It’s getting a little frustrating at this point. I don’t even know what they’re doing any more.” Jake murmured, hoping he was quiet enough that Jinxx wouldn’t hear him. It was unlikely - Jinxx’s enhanced senses were the strongest out of all of them - but maybe he was too caught up in what he and Emerson were fighting about to notice.

“Leave it to me. I’ll sort it out - I think I have an idea for this. It’s risky, but if it works it’ll  really  work. Plus, we might find out what’s started this latest round of arguments.” Remington was giggling into Jake’s shoulder. Jake figured it was best not to question him.

———

Emerson was grinning as he walked on stage that night. This kind of carefree feeling was rare on this tour, especially after  that  happened, and he was going to make the most of it. He sat down at his drumkit, and let himself get lost in the music, his mind blessedly freeing him from thoughts of blood on his neck and hands on his thighs for a change. If Jinxx hated him, then fine. He could show what he could do on his own.

Sebastian was used to the feeling of eyes on him as he played a show, but Jinxx’s staring was getting weird. A quick glance back at side stage confirmed a sneaking suspicion of his - Jinxx was not, in fact, staring at him. He was staring at Emerson, and doing a miserable job of hiding it. Andy was stood next to him, far more open about the fact he was watching Remington, and had clearly noticed Jinxx if the occasional side glances thrown his way were anything to go by. Andy’s eyes met Sebastian’s for a moment, and the vampire shrugged. Damn it. Make that another person who was utterly lost for what was happening. 

Looking back at his youngest brother, Emerson seemed to not be aware of Jinxx’s staring - or, if he was, his poker face was even better than Sebastian remembered. Emerson grinned up at him in a lull between songs, and the moment passed. The rest of their set seemed to pass oddly quickly, and soon enough they were walking off stage, Jinxx leaning over to whisper something in Emerson’s ear that the drummer made a face at as the other band took their places on the stage. Sebastian decided he didn’t want to watch the second half of this situation playing out before him, and pulled Andrew away to go get a drink. He could worry about the others later.

Jinxx was certain someone - probably Sebastian - caught him staring. Pushing away the thought, he looked over at Emerson as the younger man walked off stage. “You looked amazing up there, angel.” His voice was soft, and he couldn’t help a slight laugh at the face Emerson made in response. He grinned playfully at Jake as the two of them walked on stage. This was where he was at his best, and he wasn’t going to let anything - especially not some annoying (annoyingly cute, some part of his brain said) drummer ruin it.

Remington was watching Andy from side stage, just like every night this tour. The energy from performing was still running through his veins, and showed no signs of stopping as he watched his boyfriend sing. What was different, however, was who had decided to join him. Emerson was stood next to him, surprisingly contented. He’d occasionally lean over to make some quiet comment about how well the other band were playing, but it almost seemed like he wasn’t there otherwise. Curious, Remington tore his eyes away from Andy for a moment to see exactly what his brother was doing. 

He was staring. Staring _at_ _Jinxx,_ to be more precise. Of fucking course. Normally, this sort of thing wouldn’t bother Remington too much, but he knew that his brother would go straight back to arguing with the vampire and claiming his hatred for him as soon as the set ended. Remington glanced at Emerson’s neck. To most people, the marks on his skin would look like normal blemishes, but the other human recognised those immediately. Vampire bites. So something  did  happen when Remington got everyone off the bus.

Remington resolved to move his latest plan forward to occurring right after the show, because he wasn’t sure how much longer he wanted this to go on for. He was beginning to doubt the efficacy of his and Jake’s plans, but this one would be fun for everyone involved - and if it made some sort of progress with the resident idiots on the bus, then that was a bonus.

The set passed by in a blur for Jake. The band were playing perfectly, and the crowd were responding just as well. He looked around him. Emerson had decided to join Remington at side stage, and a look at Remington confirmed his suspicions - it was Jinxx that Emerson was there for. They still hadn’t admitted to anything, and it seemed sometimes like Jake and Remington were the only ones who had any idea what was happening at any given time. Well, Remington did at least. Jake wasn’t so sure anymore. Focusing himself - he didn’t need to be thinking about his friends’ problems in the middle of a guitar solo - he let the thought leave his mind, and by the time they walked off stage he’d almost forgotten about it completely.

The journey from the venue back to the bus was surprisingly uneventful. Jinxx padded over to Emerson, and the human just giggled, playfully leaning into the other man’s side. “Having fun there, angel?”

“Well, I was until you got here.” Emerson’s voice was relatively free of the usual venom that he directed towards Jinxx, and the scent of alcohol on his breath told the guitarist why. He was drunk, and by the look of things so were his brothers. The most interesting things always seemed to happen on the bus when the Palaye brothers were drunk, and the thought made Jinxx smile as they filed into the vehicle. Tonight should be fun.

“Hey, losers! Get over here!” Remington’s voice called out from the lounge, and Jake raised an eyebrow. Looks like whatever the human was planning was happening tonight. The group slowly appeared from wherever they were hiding - Jake faintly noted that Emerson definitely came from a bunk further away from his own - and sat down in the lounge, Andy curling up next to Remington as Sebastian and Andrew settled down as far from the group as possible. “I,” Remington began, “Have an idea. We haven’t spent that much time together as a complete group this tour.”

“And what are you trying to suggest, then?” CC’s voice was quiet, almost tired as he rested his head on Jake’s shoulder.

“Let’s play truth or dare. If you refuse a truth, you have to do a dare, and if you forfeit a dare you’ll get a worse one given to you.” Remington looked over at Jinxx and Emerson - who were curled up suspiciously close together on the couch - then at Jake. Some part of his brain knew this might not end well, but he was too drunk to care.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang plays truth or dare. Maybe Jake should stop taking part in Remington’s plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! This is where the story starts picking up. There might be a bit of a delay between this and the next chapter whilst I collect my ideas for how the story should continue.

“Truth or dare, CC?” Andy’s voice was cheerful as he stared at the drummer. They’d been playing for maybe 20 minutes, and so far everyone was being distinctly boring. Andy hoped it’d start getting fun soon.

“Uh, dare. I’m not a loser like,” CC gestured vaguely towards Jake, “some people.” Jake’s expression changed to one of mock offence as he playfully slapped his boyfriend before pulling him in for a hug.

“You two are disgustingly cute together. Anyways, I dare you to kiss Sebastian,” As Andy spoke, Andrew briefly glanced up at the vampire’s words, pouting slightly. “And, for the sake of our demon friend over there, you don’t have to do it on the mouth.” Andrew rolled his eyes, reluctantly letting go of Sebastian as CC crawled over to them. Giggling slightly, CC pressed a gentle kiss to the guitarist’s cheek before pulling away, immediately making eye contact with Sebastian and breaking out into a proper laugh. He climbed back into Jake’s lap, letting his boyfriend stroke his hair as the others started bickering over whose turn it was next.

Eventually, the decision was made that it was Jinxx’s turn next, and, surprising exactly nobody in the room, the eldest vampire chose truth. Lonny rolled his eyes at the other man’s choice before speaking up. “Alright, then. What was your most embarrassing moment from before the rest of us met you? Jake’s excluded from ‘the rest of us’ since he’s also ancient.”

Jinxx smiled. “One time, back in our hometown, Jake and I went hunting for blood - hunting animals, since we lived in a town of almost no humans - and we managed to bring down a wolf. One of the other wolves clearly didn’t realise it was us who’d killed their packmate, though, and followed us home. I only noticed when there were muddy pawprints on my bedsheets the next day. It wasn’t a fun one to explain to my parents, let’s just say that.” At that, Jake groaned, and looked up from where he was lying cuddling CC.

“He neglects to mention that the wolf decided it liked my room better, and went to sleep under my bed. He didn’t even tell me that it had followed us home!” Jake half-shouted, making Andy grin. Jake and Jinxx’s stories about their early lives were always the best, except for when they talked about vampire hunts. That’s when they’d just give him nightmares. 

“Wait, didn’t you guys date around that time? Why are there two separate beds?” Andy’s voice was slightly teasing - in truth, he wasn’t certain if this story took place when they were dating, but the subject always made them both so hilariously flustered.

“Andy. 1800s. Even in a vampire town, gay people weren’t exactly the most accepted in the world. Besides, we were living with my parents at the time.” Jinxx was fighting the blush that was starting to rise on his cheeks - even though they were still just as affectionate with each other now as they were back then, the subject of his past relationship with Jake was enough to shatter any composure he might be able to fool the others into thinking he had.

“Anyways!” Jake’s voice cut through the air. He wasn’t sure he felt like talking about that today. Besides, if they got too deep into the subject of his relationship with Jinxx it could be an issue for whatever Remington was planning. “Emerson, isn’t it your turn now?”

“I believe so.” It was practically the first thing Emerson had said since they got back on the bus - he’d conveniently been in the toilet both times it should have been his turn before, so this was his first turn now. “Before you ask, I choose truth.”

Remington smirked, attempting to sneakily wink at Jake before he spoke. “You got a crush on anyone, Em?”

Emerson’s brain short-circuited, and he didn’t know why. It should’ve been an easy question - just say no, let the game continue. Instead, his mind decided to make life infinitely harder for him. “Uhh, I choose dare.” Great, now everyone would be suspicious. He’d seen the looks they’d given him and Jinxx when the two of them walked into the bus with Jinxx’s arm tucked around Emerson’s waist. Of course, Emerson figured Jinxx was just being affectionate to irritate him, but he doubted the others would see it that way.

Remington grinned. How nice of his brother to make his plan even easier - even if it was in a roundabout way. “Fine, since you want to be like that. I dare you to make out with Jake.” If anything was going to get on Jinxx’s nerves, it would be this.

“On that note, I am going to leave. Andrew, darling, are you gonna come with?” Sebastian didn’t even want to see the  start  of this. He’d had a suspicion that Remington only called the group together to interfere with Jinxx and Emerson, and by the looks of things that was exactly what was happening. Besides, he didn’t really want to watch his baby brother make out with one of his friends. He dealt with enough of that with Remington and Andy.

Emerson mock-sighed, then walked over to Jake. The vampire was cute, and nice, and if he was being honest he didn’t mind too much. Playfully shoving CC off Jake’s lap, he sat himself down, pulling the guitarist in and pressing their lips together. Jake immediately reciprocated, wrapping his arms around the human to pull him closer. They kissed for a while, eventually pulling away to catch their breaths. Emerson looked back at the others, saw Andy covering Remington’s eyes, Lonny cuddling CC close. His eyes flicked over to Jinxx, whose expression he couldn’t read. Sighing, he climbed off of Jake’s lap, returning to his place on the couch - a place unfortunately a little closer to Jinxx than he would have liked, considering that Lonny was now curled up with Jake and CC.

Andy definitely noticed a change in Jinxx’s demeanour after Jake and Emerson kissed. He decided to pretend he just imagined it, but he could’ve sworn he saw the older vampire shuffle over on the couch so he was closer to the human. Pulling his mind away from those thoughts, he removed his hand from over Remington’s eyes. “Jeez, get a room. Whose turn is it now?”

The game continued in a similar fashion for a while, and Jinxx settled for occasionally leaning in to tease Emerson and using the opportunity to move closer so he was practically lying against Emerson’s side by the time it got to his turn again. It was Jake’s turn to give the challenges, and Jinxx decided to ignore the spark of mischief in his best friend’s eyes. 

“Jinxx, truth or dare?” Jake was really, really hoping Jinxx would choose dare for once.

“Dare.”

Perfect. “Since you and Emerson seem to be so cosy with each other right now, I dare you to bite him. Emerson, I noticed you sneaking off whenever it was your turn for the first part of this game, so you’d better accept to make up for that.”

Shit. This wasn’t good. Emerson and Jinxx had barely spoken about anything relating to.. that.. since the shower incident, and now the vampire had to bite him in front of almost everyone. Oh well. Figures he wouldn’t be able to get away with the sneaking off forever. “Fine. Be gentle, asshole.”

“Wouldn’t dream of doing any different, angel.” Jinxx was, undeniably, freaking out a little right now. Their audience was waiting, though, and teasing Emerson was always fun. He carefully brushed the human’s hair away from his neck - he swore the human had been trying to cover his neck with his hair ever since the incident with the shower - and sank his fangs in. 

Emerson whined, subconsciously tucking an arm around Jinxx’s side as the vampire drank his blood. True to his word, Jinxx was being much gentler than usual - but the thought of there being a “usual” with them now was making his head spin, and he doubted it was just from the blood loss. By the time Jinxx pulled away, they were practically cuddling, and after Jinxx sealed the wound shut he made no attempt to move away.

“Fuck, blood tastes weird when there’s alcohol in it.” Jinxx groaned, resting his head on Emerson’s shoulder. The human was shaking slightly, and without thinking Jinxx pulled them both down so that they were laying on the couch together. Emerson tensed up for a second, then relaxed, letting Jinxx hold him. 

“Still hate you.” Emerson whispered, voice rough. 

“Hate you too, angel.” Jinxx smiled at Emerson, noticing a surprisingly content look on the human’s face. They laid together for a while, and Jinxx was just beginning to properly relax when of course Remington had to go and open his mouth again.

“Awh, look at them!” Remington was snuggled into Andy’s arms, grinning as he pointed to the pair, “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think people who hate each other would do that.”

It took Emerson a second to fully register what Remington said. When he did, however, it was like a switch flicked in his head, and he pulled himself away from Jinxx, tears pricking in his eyes as he glared at his brother. “Fuck off, Rem. I’m going to bed, staying up after losing that blood can’t be good for me, and staying with you assholes playing this shitty game probably isn’t either.” He stormed off before the others could see him break down, launching himself into his bunk before sobbing weakly. He felt something particularly soft brush against his cheek. Jinxx’s hoodie - he’d left it there after that one night. Resolving to think about what this meant once he was less drunk, he pulled the hoodie on and let himself cry.

“The fuck is wrong with you guys? That was the happiest I’d seen Emerson in weeks, then you just had to go open your mouth.” Jinxx was on autopilot now, too angry to think about the fact he was defending Emerson.

“You ever considered that you might be the one making Emerson so hurt? Of course the kid would be happy when you aren’t fighting with him every two seconds.” Jake didn’t like arguing with Jinxx, but maybe this would help him recognise his feelings. Plus, he reckoned he was right - if Emerson loved Jinxx, their constant arguing had to hurt him.

“He’s a grown fucking man, not a ‘kid’, Jake. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed.” Jinxx turned and stalked away, ignoring the others’ shocked stares as he walked to the bunks. He’d never admit it, but he was pretty sure he was starting to cry. As he passed by Emerson’s bunk, he heard faint sobs, and he leaned down. “If you need anything, just ask, angel.”

“Hate you.” Emerson’s voice was barely a whisper, and he struggled to keep it even when he heard Jinxx talking to him. He wished he could explain away the pain in his chest with hatred.

Jinxx couldn’t bring himself to respond. Sighing deeply, he crawled into his bunk, tugging the curtain shut and rolling over to try to sleep. Damn it. He was fucked. Utterly fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN CHOO CHOO
> 
> i promise i’ll let them be happy soon


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s a hotel night. Shenanigans ensue, and Jinxx and Emerson take some time to reflect on their own feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter’s a lot more chill than the last one, because I needed to write something soft after the last chapter and On Leather Wings.

He and Jinxx, they’ve fallen into a sort of routine, Emerson thinks - they argue, they fuck, they cuddle, someone else brings it up, they go back to fighting. Rinse and repeat.

Emerson’s getting a little tired of it, if he’s being honest. Sure, the sex is better than any he’s ever had before - Jinxx is equal parts rough and caring, knows exactly how Emerson works. Those gentle moments of affection are like heaven to him, their guards at least somewhat dropped as they hold each other on quiet nights. He lets Jinxx bite him almost every time he asks, now, a far cry from how he used to act. Even so, it hurts Emerson just how quickly the vampire can switch back to fighting him, but he supposes it makes sense. Jinxx hates him - and he’s told Jinxx so many times that he hates him too, even if Emerson starts to believe what he says less and less with every passing day. 

So he pushes his feelings of being used - sometimes for sex, sometimes for blood - to the back of his mind, and lets the cycle repeat again.

Jinxx wishes he could still think he hates Emerson. It would make everything so much easier, make the lonely nights after they’ve both retreated from the others’ teasing so much more bearable. He’ll still say it - Emerson says it, too, and Jinxx assumes that Emerson actually means it. Even though the pain in his chest stings every time Emerson leaves him to go hide in his own bunk, Jinxx forces himself to ignore it. Better to have this strange relationship with Emerson built on blood and lust and hate than to have no relationship at all.

It’s a hotel night, and Sebastian has managed to convince Jake to let him and Emerson have separate rooms. Jinxx wishes he could say it was a blessing, but now he’s laying sprawled out on his bed - alone - and feels so much colder without the human’s warmth near to him. His phone is laying near to him, a connection to Emerson so easy to reach for, but he doesn’t pick it up yet. He’s not sure if this is a good night yet, and he’s waiting for the emotions swirling through his mind to settle before he tries to get any closer to Emerson. Besides, he doesn’t know if Emerson’s hanging out with the others or not.

Hold on. That’s a brilliant thought. Jinxx smiles to himself at his idea of how to tease Emerson, and reaches for his phone.

Emerson’s curled up on his bed, watching some weird video CC sent him earlier. He figures it should be funny, but he isn’t laughing. The bed is warm - he knows any of the others would be comfortable at this temperature, but he craves the cold of Jinxx’s touch. The duvet’s long been shoved to one side, but all that’s achieved in Emerson’s mind has been to make him even more aware of the fact he’s alone. He wishes he still hated Jinxx, wishes he didn’t need the other vampire so close to him.

His phone buzzes, and as his eyes refocus on the screen he sees that Jinxx texted him. Smiling slightly to himself, he opens up the messenger app. Finally.

Fangs: [sent an image]

Fangs: all alone....

Emerson flushes red almost instantly. Jinxx is sprawled out on his bed, shirt riding up so almost all of his torso is exposed. The image cuts off at his waist, but Emerson notices the vampire’s pants discarded to one side. The little devil.

Emerson: what the fuck, dude?

Emerson: you can’t just send that shit with no warning!!

Emerson: i could’ve been with the others!

Fangs: i know, angel ;)

Fangs: so, you’re alone too?

Jinxx grins. He doesn’t need to wait for Emerson’s response - he already knows Emerson’s on his own, judging by what he’s sent. Setting his phone on the bed, he lazily tugs his shirt back down. Almost as soon as he’s done, his phone buzzes.

Angel ;) : [sent an image]

Angel ;) : two can play at that game.

Jinxx blushes, staring at the photo on the screen. Emerson’s wearing nothing but his boxers, exposing his chest and the marks littered across it - Jinxx hadn’t even realised how rough he’d gotten last time around, but it makes for a beautiful sight. Emerson’s smirking in the picture, confident, but Jinxx immediately notices the blush painting his cheeks. Gorgeous.

Angel ;) : i’m coming to your room in a few minutes :)

Jinxx: :)

Jinxx: i’ll be waiting, angel.

True to his word, Jinxx hears a knock at the door a few moments later. Scrambling off the bed, he goes to open it, and is graced with the sight of Emerson stood there in a sinfully small vest and what may just be the tightest jeans the human owns. Simply put, the outfit leaves very little to the imagination. “You even took the time to dress up for me, angel?” Jinxx smiles at the human, wrapping a hand around his wrist to pull him into the room before shoving the door closed.

“Knew you’d like this outfit.” Emerson’s giggling slightly, playfully squirming around in Jinxx’s grip as the vampire pulls him in. “Had to make up in some way for you sending that picture with no warning earlier.” He manages to wriggle out of Jinxx’s arms, and gently shoves the other man down onto the bed. Jinxx grins up at him, sitting up and tugging Emerson down so the drummer is laying down on top of him.

“Little brat.” Jinxx presses a gentle kiss to Emerson’s neck, cuddling the human closer. “I’m not sorry about that, by the way.” Emerson’s expression changes to one of mock-indignance, and he gently slaps Jinxx’s chest, making the vampire laugh and roll them both over so now Emerson’s laying beneath him.

They playfight for a little while longer, but eventually get tired and curl back up on the bed, Jinxx pulling Emerson close against his chest. “Hate you, gorgeous.” Jinxx purrs softly in the human’s ear, hoping Emerson doesn’t hear the uncertainty in his voice as he says it.

“Hate you too, princess.” Emerson’s mumbling as he responds, but Jinxx’s enhanced hearing makes it easier. He flushes red at the pet name, cuddling into Emerson and choosing to assume he just imagined the uncertain waver in the human’s voice - better not to get his hopes up than to be disappointed.

They hear a faint shout from down the hall. “What was that?” Emerson murmurs sleepily into Jinxx’s chest, hoping the vampire’s enhanced senses will allow them to find out what’s happening without them having to get up.

Jinxx closes his eyes to focus more on what he can hear, and hears a very concerned Remington running over to wherever the shout came from. A little more focus tells him that Andy was the source of the shout, but Remington seems to have it under control. “We should be okay just staying here. I think Remington’s sorting it out.” He kisses Emerson, smiling as the human looks up at him with a far softer expression on his face than he normally sees. Leaning down, he gently nips at the drummer’s neck with his fangs. 

“Jinxx.... not right now, princess, I’m too tired.” Emerson whispers, whining slightly at the feeling. Jinxx pouts, but pulls away, instead reaching up to pet Emerson’s hair. They stay there, contented, for a while. Eventually, though, Emerson manages to wake himself up enough to stand, making Jinxx groan at the loss of contact. “I’m going to go back to my room. Aw, don’t give me that look, you know what the others would say if they saw us like that.”

Jinxx sighs, standing up to give Emerson one last lazy kiss. “I’ll text you, angel.” 

Emerson grins as he leaves the room. “I’ll be waiting, princess.”

Emerson doesn’t wait for Jinxx to text him first when he returns to his own room. Flopping down on his bed, he pulls his phone out and smiles a little as he opens his messages.

Emerson: hey fangy ;)

Emerson: you gonna be thinking about me in that outfit in the shower?

Fangs: angel...

Fangs: as if you’re one to make fun of me about *that*

Emerson giggles, burying his head in his pillow. He should’ve expected Jinxx to bring that up, really. His heart rate speeds up at the thought, but he calms down quickly. He’s too tired for that right now.

Jinxx smiles. Emerson was beautiful in that outfit tonight - really, the only reason he hadn’t pushed the human down onto the bed and had his way with him as soon as he arrived was because he could see the tiredness in Emerson’s eyes. He texts Emerson for a few more hours, all teasing and playful bickering and pet names, until eventually the drummer texts him goodnight and goes offline. Putting his phone down on the nightstand, he rolls over and falls asleep... surprisingly quickly. His last thoughts before he falls asleep are of Emerson, and it doesn’t scare Jinxx as much as it used to. Maybe he is in love.

Emerson’s struggling to keep his eyes open by the time he says goodnight to Jinxx, but he’s giggling at his phone screen with every message and blushing furiously. After he’s told Jinxx that he’s going to sleep, he puts his phone down and tugs the duvet over himself. As he shuts his eyes, images of the vampire cuddling him and grinning at him flash through his mind, and for once he doesn’t force them out. It finally clicks for him that he’s in love, but he’s too sleepy to be bothered by it. Curling in on himself, he falls asleep happier than he has been in weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look at who finally accepted their feelings! Maybe some actual progress will be made now.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emerson and Jinxx are still bad at feelings. CC finally gets involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda simpler chapter than my usual, but I needed CC to be involved in this at least slightly to reach some shit I’ve had in my mind for a while.

Emerson groaned as he heard the alarm on his phone go off. He tiredly scrambled to turn it off right before he heard a knock on the door.

“The others are heading out to breakfast, you want to go hang out on the bus while they’re gone?” Jinxx was just as sleepy as him, judging both by the tone of his voice and the lack of any teasing. 

“Sure, just give me a minute to wake up, princess.” Emerson called out, smiling softly. Finally, something nice to wake up to instead of his brothers screaming at him to get up. Throwing on the first thing he could reach - which happened to be that vest and jeans combo he’d worn to tease Jinxx the previous night, along with some boots - he padded over to the door and opened it to see the vampire grinning at him. Jinxx pulled him in for a hug, softly petting his hair as Emerson snuggled into him. “Fucking missed you.” Emerson’s voice was barely a whisper, and given Jinxx’s lack of a reaction he doubted the other man heard him.

Jinxx thought he heard Emerson tell him he missed him, but he decided to just assume he was tired and imagining things. Even so, he leaned down to press a kiss to the top of the drummer’s head before pulling away and tugging at Emerson’s wrist to lead him out of the hotel. “You’re affectionate today, angel.” Jinxx knew he had no right to be teasing Emerson about that - he was the one who’d gone to the human’s hotel room first thing in the morning - but Emerson’s reactions were always cute. The other man blushed, reaching over to playfully swat at Jinxx’s chest.

“As if you’re one to talk.” Emerson murmured, tucking himself into Jinxx’s side as they walked over to the bus. The vampire moved away for a moment to open the door, and Emerson had to stifle a whine at the loss of contact. As soon as the door was open, though, Jinxx pulled him into the bus with him, only stopping to shut the door behind them before sitting down on the couch with Emerson curled up beside him. “Hate you.” Emerson was giggling softly as he said it, and leaned up to kiss Jinxx’s cheek as the vampire wrapped an arm around his waist.

“Hate you too, sweetheart. Hey, Em, I’m hungry, and since you didn’t let me bite you yesterday...” Jinxx doesn’t need to finish his sentence. Emerson looks up at him, rolls his eyes, then tilts his head back. Jinxx kisses the human’s collarbone before he bites him, smirking slightly at the moan Emerson lets out. He feeds from him just enough to sate his appetite, since he knows the drummer is still tired, then pulls away with a soft lick over the bites to seal them. Emerson snuggles in closer, smiling. “So cute, angel...”

Emerson’s too relaxed to make any snarky comments, so he simply kisses Jinxx before closing his eyes and letting the vampire hold him.

CC’s the first back on the bus after breakfast - normally he takes his time to walk back, but he knows if he was any slower he’d have to fight one of the others for the shower. He shoves the door open, and walks in to find Emerson and Jinxx curled up together on the couch. He slows down a little, attempting to avoid them noticing him - he knows what they’re like. If they realise they’re being watched they’ll go back to hiding from each other, and they’ve been dancing around their feelings for too long already.

Emerson slowly opens one eye to see CC glance over at them. Fuck. He detaches himself from Jinxx as fast as he can, loses his balance, and falls onto the bus floor with a light thud.

Well, shit. Now they’ve seen him. CC looks over at Jinxx, who’s staring at them with a look that CC immediately recognises as the older vampire being deeply offended to have his cuddle session cut short. The drummer shrugs at him, then continues on to the shower. He doesn’t say anything - from what he’s seen, making any comment about the situation would just make things worse.

Emerson watches almost with awe as CC walks off to the shower. The other drummer didn’t make a single rude comment about him and Jinxx, and seemed mortified that he’d even disturbed them. He makes a mental note of it - maybe, just maybe, he’s found someone he could talk to about his feelings for Jinxx. Clearing his thoughts, he stands up and grins playfully at Jinxx before walking off to get changed into some slightly more normal clothes.

Jinxx glares up at CC. Damn it, just when he was starting to get comfortable. The younger vampire shrugs at him with an almost apologetic look on his face, and quietly pads off to the other side of the bus. Emerson carefully stands up from where he’s fallen onto the floor - adorable - and grins at him before leaving to go to his bunk. As Jinxx attempts to regain his composure, he thinks about CC’s reaction. No weird comments, no jokes. How kind of him.

The others file onto the bus fairly soon afterwards, and - thankfully, Emerson thinks - CC doesn’t mention what he saw to any of them. He goes over and jokes around with his brothers for the remaining time before they go to soundcheck, occasionally glancing over at Jinxx - who seems thoroughly unaffected by what happened that morning. Emerson pushes away the hurt in his chest. That can wait until after the show.

———

Emerson’s panting when he returns to the bus, and not from the exhaustion of playing a show. Jinxx had cornered him right after their sets were over, whilst his brothers were out with their respective boyfriends and the rest of the other band were celebrating. They’d fucked in some disused closet, Jinxx bending him over a table, all rough touches and sickly sweet pet names. Afterwards, the vampire had given him a quick kiss and fixed his hair before disappearing off to find his bandmates, leaving Emerson tired and feeling thoroughly used - maybe in a good way, maybe in a bad way. As he sees Jinxx giggling and playing with Lonny’s hair, he corrects that last thought. Definitely in a bad way. He’s barely crawled into his bunk - which still smells like Jinxx from the last time they’d slept together, some part of Emerson’s brain unhelpfully says - before he starts crying.

Jinxx can’t help but feel bad about leaving Emerson on his own right after they’d fucked. Jinxx had been rough - he knew Emerson well enough to know how much he liked that. He’s curled up with Lonny, now, braiding the younger vampire’s hair out of anxious boredom. He watches as Emerson pads back into the bus, looking incredibly dishevelled, and notices the glance thrown his way before the human runs off to his bunk. He considers following him for a second, but decides against it - the drummer probably doesn’t want to be around him right now, considering how rude he was earlier.

CC, for lack of any more articulate way to put it, wants to smash his head into a brick wall. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Emerson and Jinxx had fucked after the show - and it also didn’t take a genius to realise that neither of them would probably want to be alone after that. So why, exactly, is Jinxx now cuddled up with Lonny, completely ignoring the hurt look on Emerson’s face when he walked in?

CC closes his eyes for a second while he thinks. Fuck it. He’s had enough of this, and his enhanced senses are telling him that Emerson is definitely crying right now. Standing up, he walks towards the human’s bunk, and sighs before gently tapping on the wall next to it. “What’s up, Em?”

Emerson barely registers that someone’s there until he hears CC talk. Hearing the concern in the older drummer’s voice just makes him cry harder. “Fuck off. You-“ he barely makes it through the words before another sob wracks his body, “You wouldn’t understand what’s wrong.”

“That’s why I’m asking, sweetheart.” CC cautiously tugs Emerson’s curtain open, and when the human makes no attempt to shut it he reaches a hand out to gently pet Emerson’s hair. “Is it because of Jinxx?”

“Am I really that obvious?” In any other situation, Emerson would be laughing right now - of course CC would have figured it out. As it stands, he pulls away from the vampire’s touch to wipe his eyes.

CC smiles weakly at the human. “I promise I’ll sort this out, Em. You deserve to be happy.” He wishes he could do more right now, but it’s clear to him that Emerson needs Jinxx. Pulling the curtain shut, he walks off to go find the one person in the world who could make Jinxx see sense - Jake.

His boyfriend is laughing at some joke Andy made when CC returns. Pulling Jake aside, he sighs a little before he speaks. “Emerson’s crying because of Jinxx leaving him alone. I know you said you weren’t going to interfere any more after the truth or dare fiasco, but can you please ask Jinxx to stop being so useless? Seeing Emerson this sad is honestly painful to watch.”

Jake kisses his boyfriend’s forehead, smiling. “I’ll see what I can do, love. I make no promises, though. You know how stubborn Jinxx can be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yep angst
> 
> I promise we’re getting to some cute shit soon, and I promise I’ll write more Jinxx/Emerson smut soon - I was just too tired to include it today.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emerson’s crying. Jake and CC confront Jinxx.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a much longer chapter than usual, because I’ve had it planned for a while and didn’t want to split it up.

“Jinxx? Can we talk for a minute?” Jake’s voice shook Jinxx out of his relaxed state - he’d practically zoned out after Emerson walked in, desperate to think about anything other than the human. The human who he’d probably ruined any chance he might’ve had with.

“Uh, sure, just give me a second-“ Jinxx slowly stood up, ruffling Lonny’s hair as he walked over to where Jake and CC were both stood. Oh, he was in trouble now. CC did not look happy, and the younger vampire was almost never this serious. “What’s up?”

Jake groaned. “Dude, you need to go look after Emerson. Kid’s a wreck, you need to go fix whatever the hell you did before coming back to the bus.” He doubted he’d get through to Jinxx first try - his best friend was notoriously stubborn about these things. Unsurprisingly, Jinxx sighed and rolled his eyes at him.

“I’d doubt Emerson wants to be around me right now. Don’t think he even likes me.”

“Are you kidding, Jinxx?” CC’s voice came out much louder than he was intending, so he made a conscious effort to lower it before speaking again so as to not startle Emerson. “He’s barely off you. The only times I’ve seen you two apart in the past two weeks have been when we play shows and when you two are pulling this stupid game of ignoring each other.”

“But, I-“ Jinxx didn’t get to finish what he was saying before Jake very pointedly cleared his throat and looked directly at him.

“I don’t want to hear it, Jinxx. Now go look after your intended mate like a good vampire.” None of the others had ever brought up that around Jinxx before, but Jake was running out of ideas for how to convince his friend, and given the stunned look on the older vampire’s face it seemed to work.

“Fuck, fine. Don’t think you can just boss me around like that all the time though, dude.” Briefly shutting his eyes in a vague attempt to regain his composure, Jinxx turned and walked towards the bunks. Guess he couldn’t avoid this forever. 

Emerson heard CC yelling in the lounge, then a few moments later heard footsteps towards his bunk. He wiped away his tears as well as he could, considering he was still crying unreasonably hard, then pulled his curtain open. Oh. Jinxx. Of course. The vampire looked at him, and Emerson didn’t need him to talk to know Jinxx wanted to come in. Despite everything, he glared at the other man. Jinxx sighed, and looked like he was going to leave, and on pure instinct Emerson reached a hand out and pulled Jinxx over to him.

“Angel? What’s wrong?” Jinxx’s head was spinning, but he convinced himself to stay calm. Emerson didn’t need him to be freaking out right now.

Emerson whimpered softly at Jinxx’s concerned tone of voice before he responded. “You’re - fuck - you’re never going to understand what’s wrong-“ Emerson had to pause to breathe in between sobs, “So j-just cuddle me for a bit. Please?”

Jinxx looked at the younger man, curled in on himself and looking weaker than Jinxx had ever seen him before. Sighing, he crawled in beside Emerson, wrapping his arms around the human as he clung to Jinxx’s chest. He dropped a soft kiss into Emerson’s hair, smiling slightly when the younger man’s crying slowed down a little. “Shh, gorgeous, I’ve got you.” He played with the stray strands of Emerson’s hair for a little while, occasionally pressing kisses wherever he could reach. Eventually, he sighed a little and nuzzled his head into the crook of Emerson’s neck. “Love you, angel.” He wasn’t sure if he wanted Emerson to hear or not.

Emerson swore he heard Jinxx say he loves him. Whining slightly, he tenses up a little, cuddling the vampire close to his chest. He might’ve imagined it. Even so, he feels a small burst of confidence overtake him, and before his mind can put a stop to it he speaks. “I love you.” It’s barely a whisper, but he suspects Jinxx’s enhanced hearing will pick it up. His mind suddenly catches up, and he sobs, crying just as hard as he was before Jinxx arrived.

Jinxx freezes for a second when he hears Emerson, but when the human sobs into his chest it hits him. “I love you too. So much.” Emerson barely looks up at him for a moment before he curls back up.

“You’ve always said you hate me. Why?” Emerson can hardly form words at his point, his mind reeling. He struggles to believe what Jinxx is saying.

“I’m so sorry for everything, angel. I really do love you, and I’m sorry for acting like I just wanted you for feeding and sex.” Jinxx faintly registers that he’s crying too, now, and he clings to Emerson even closer, hoping the human will understand. He kisses Emerson everywhere he can reach, mumbling words of love every so often before he whimpers softly and holds him in his arms.

They lay like that for what felt like it could’ve been hours or maybe just a few minutes, until eventually Emerson shuffles slightly so he can look at Jinxx. The vampire looks like a mess, hair half sticking to the dried tears on his face. Emerson figures he must look about the same, and despite themselves, when they make eye contact they can’t help but giggle.

Jinxx moves forward first, kissing Emerson. It’s far softer than their usual kisses, Jinxx carefully brushing Emerson’s hair out of the way as they hold each other. When they pull away they’re both smiling. “Love you, Jinxx.” Emerson’s use of his name makes Jinxx blush, and he shyly buries his head in the human’s chest.

“Love you too, Emerson.” Emerson whines slightly, kissing Jinxx’s forehead one more time before they both settle down to sleep. 

———

Emerson wakes up first the next morning. He’s curled up against Jinxx’s chest, the vampire protectively holding him in his sleep. It takes his mind a moment to register what happened the previous night, but when he does he grins and presses a soft kiss to Jinxx’s collarbone. The vampire groans slightly - finally waking up - and looks at Emerson with tired but loving eyes. “Morning, sweetheart.”

“Em, angel, I’m tired....” Jinxx grumbles, though he’s still smiling. Emerson’s smiling at Jinxx, too, and yelps a little when Jinxx playfully swats at him with a free bit of the duvet. 

“Aw, now is that any way to treat your boyfriend?” Jinxx blushes at Emerson’s words, kissing him and pulling him closer. “Love you.”

“Love you too, angel.” Jinxx doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of finally being able to say that. They’re quiet for a little while, just relaxing into each other’s arms, and Jinxx is on the verge of falling asleep again when Emerson speaks.

“Hey, princess,” Emerson’s voice is playful, and when Jinxx looks at him he can see a teasing spark in his eyes. “Can I top you for once? I haven’t done it in too long.” Emerson kisses Jinxx’s forehead, grinning when the vampire rolls his eyes.

“Gorgeous, I only just woke up.” Jinxx definitely isn’t going to stop Emerson, but he’s definitely still tired. 

“And? That’s barely stopped you in the past.” Emerson’s blushing, and when he makes eye contact with Jinxx he can see his boyfriend blushing too. 

“Not going to argue with that one. Be gentle, angel, you know I don’t bottom often.” Jinxx smirks at Emerson, laying back on the bed as his boyfriend shuffles around so he’s lying on top of him. Emerson sits up for a second to tug his shirt off before he leans down, kissing Jinxx and groaning slightly as Jinxx grinds up against him.

“Of course, princess....fuck, darling, that feels so good-“ Emerson pants, pulling Jinxx up off the bed for just long enough to take his shirt off and then kissing all down his chest. “You’re so beautiful, love.” Jinxx moans in response, his head tilting back as he lets Emerson take care of him.

Emerson pauses for a second, climbing off of Jinxx’s lap to pull off his own boxers. Jinxx raises his hips off the bed to make it easier for the human to take his boxers off too, and afterwards when Emerson crawls back over him and grinds their cocks together Jinxx can’t help a desperate moan. “Shh, princess... I love hearing you like this, but the others are asleep. Wouldn’t want them to know how much of a needy whore you are, hm?” Emerson grins down at his boyfriend, kissing him on the forehead before fumbling about in his bed for his bottle of lube. Eventually, he finds it, and when Jinxx hears the familiar click of it opening he whimpers softly. “Love you, Jinxx. Still okay with this?”

“Of course, angel. Love you too.” Jinxx reaches a hand up to stroke the human’s hair - he knows Emerson can get just as nervous about topping as he can about bottoming. Emerson gestures for Jinxx to roll over, and he obeys, laying on his stomach with his ass up and ready for his boyfriend. “Fuck, Em, need it-“

“Patience, princess.” Emerson giggled slightly - how many times had Jinxx teased him about begging? He leaned down to kiss the vampire’s forehead before gently pushing a lubed finger into his hole. “So beautiful, love.”

Jinxx let out a choked moan at the intrusion, instinctively pressing back against Emerson’s hand. “Angel-fuck, feels so good-“

“So needy, princess. Barely even gotten started yet and you’re already an adorable wreck for me.” Jinxx just whined in response as Emerson crooked his finger to hit Jinxx’s prostate dead on. The vampire’s hand flew to cover his mouth as he moaned, careful to not wake up any of the others. Emerson leaned down, kissing him before pulling his hand away from his mouth. “Cute.”

Emerson moved up for a moment to put some more of the lube on a second finger, warming it up before lining it up with Jinxx’s ass - the vampire could be incredibly bratty at times, and he knew Jinxx would complain if the lube was cold. Smirking, he pressed it in, Jinxx whimpering softly in response before a much louder moan forced its way out as Emerson spread his fingers out inside him. “Love-love you, angel. Fuck, more, please-“ Jinxx could barely speak at this point, too engrossed in the pleasure. He really needed to bottom for Emerson more often.

“You look so perfect like this, princess. Love you.” Emerson thrusted his fingers into Jinxx a couple more times before adding a third. When he did, Jinxx winced slightly at the stretch, but then moaned desperately underneath Emerson. “Pretty. You think you’ll be stretched enough with three?” Emerson murmured, fucking his fingers into Jinxx lazily as he waited for his boyfriend’s response.

“Yeah-“ Jinxx’s words broke on a moan when Emerson hit his prostate, “Think I- fuck- should be.”

“Perfect. You’re so cute when you moan, darling.” Jinxx blushed, burying his head in the pillow slightly. He knew he’d tease Emerson for this later on, but right now his boyfriend’s words were making his whole body weak. He looked back at the human, smiling tiredly at him and leaning back to kiss him. “Love you, princess.” In the past, the nickname had been little more than a fun joke, Emerson’s answer to ‘angel’, but in this moment it made Jinxx whimper and submit himself to the drummer even more.

Emerson thrusted his fingers in and out a few more times before pulling them out, smirking at the whine Jinxx made at the loss. He moved away, grabbing the discarded lube and slicking it onto his cock, groaning at the sensation. He couldn’t help but stroke himself a few more times, moaning softly when he pulled away. “Ready, love?”

“Of course, angel.” Jinxx’s voice was quiet, almost shy. He snuggled into the bed to get himself more comfortable, and then Emerson was pushing in and oh- oh fuck. He’d almost forgotten how good this felt - it had been a while since they’d done this - but he couldn’t help an embarrassingly loud moan as his boyfriend bottomed out inside him. “Fuck, please darling-“

“So pretty. My gorgeous little slut.” Emerson practically moaned into Jinxx’s ear as he leaned down, nipping softly at Jinxx’s neck and smiling at the soft whimpers he heard. He slowly began to fuck into Jinxx, groaning softly at the tightness. 

Jinxx was past the point of being able to talk back to Emerson, and he blushed softly at the name calling. Emerson knew how much he loved that. The younger man fucked into him at a teasingly slow pace, leaving Jinxx clawing at the sheets and pushing back desperately against him. “Please, Emerson, faster-“ Jinxx whined, blushing when Emerson giggled.

“As you wish, princess.” Emerson started fucking into his boyfriend faster, grinning whenever he hit his prostate and Jinxx moaned needily. “Little whore... you want the whole bus to hear you?” Emerson wrapped his arms around Jinxx’s waist, pulling him up slightly to get a better angle. It worked, and Jinxx whimpered with every thrust, begging Emerson for more. 

“Love you, fuck, I love you so much.” Jinxx could hardly think anymore, Emerson fucking him so well and praising and degrading him so softly. “M’gonna cum, fuck, please-“

Emerson smiled, kissing Jinxx and moving one of his hands down from Jinxx’s waist to wrap around his leaking cock. “Love you too, gorgeous. Fuck, go on, cum for me.”

The feeling of Emerson’s hand on his cock pulling in time with his thrusts sent Jinxx over the edge, and he came with a hoarse cry, his face falling into the pillow. Emerson pulled out of him, and with a few strokes came over Jinxx’s back, groaning softly as he leaned down to kiss his boyfriend. Grabbing a tissue, Emerson gently cleaned Jinxx off before letting the vampire lie down more comfortably and cuddling up against him. “Love you. That good?”

“Love you too, angel. So, so good.  You need to top more often.” Jinxx giggled slightly, petting his boyfriend’s hair and relaxing into his touch. Emerson smirked, kissing his neck.

“How long do I have before your brain switches back on enough to start teasing me about that?” Emerson murmured, blushing with Jinxx giggled and tilted his head up to look at him.

“Fuck if I know. God, you’re so cute, angel.” Jinxx kissed Emerson’s cheek, the human’s arms wrapping protectively around him. Jinxx shuffled slightly, wincing. He wasn’t going to be able to walk properly today. Emerson clearly noticed, frowning.

“Sorry if I was too rough, love.” 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I liked it. Besides, don’t pretend I don’t put you in this state all the time.” Emerson blushed, lazily slapping Jinxx’s chest. They stayed cuddled up together for a while longer until Emerson smirked and looked down at Jinxx.

“Princess, I just had an idea.”

“And what would that idea be, love?” Emerson chuckled softly as Jinxx rolled his eyes.

“You noticed how the others kept getting annoyed at us for not being together, and kept trying to interfere?” Emerson whispered, clinging to his boyfriend.

“Of course I did. They aren’t nearly as subtle as they think they are.”

“How about we don’t tell them we’re dating just yet? See how long it takes for them to figure it out. We’ve already been acting affectionate with them around, so I doubt they’ll notice immediately.” Emerson grinned playfully at his boyfriend, whining when Jinxx nipped softly at his neck.

“That’s evil, darling.” Jinxx paused for a second, biting down on Emerson’s collarbone just hard enough to draw a little blood that he softly lapped up before continuing. “And perfect. It’ll be fun to watch them being confused. Besides, you always get so cute and worked up when we playfight, but now I can just give you cuddles afterwards instead of ignoring you.”

Emerson smiled, kissing the vampire before sitting up. “Love you. We should get up now, before one of my brothers yells at me for still being in bed.”

“Love you too, angel.” Jinxx fumbled around in the bunk for their clothes, passing Emerson’s to him whenever he found them. They got dressed, and Jinxx was the first out of the bunk, reaching a hand out to Emerson to pull him out too. “You got anything in particular you want to fake-argue about today? We need to keep this realistic to confuse the others.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY FINALLY DID IT
> 
> There’ll probably be a couple more chapters of this fic so I can properly establish their relationship dynamic and you all can see how long it takes the rest of the two bands to figure out what’s up. After that, I’ll probably do a few oneshots with the various currently-established pairings in the series before moving on to working on the next multi-chapter fic in the AU. Don’t worry, this series isn’t going anywhere fast :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CC is smart. The others? The others have no idea what’s going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keeping it short and sweet for the first part of the keeping-it-secret section of the fic, mostly because I had no idea how to keep switching POVs. Next chapter should be more coherent.

CC’s sat at the table in the lounge, watching some video on his phone. He glances up. Jinxx and Emerson are cuddling, Emerson perched on the vampire’s lap with Jinxx’s arms wrapped around his waist. The normal response to this would be to assume they were dating - but Jinxx and Emerson didn’t act in a way that supported the “normal response”.

They were arguing. CC.... really couldn’t tell what they were arguing about, if he was being honest. It seemed so nonsensical that he began to wonder if he’d gotten a contact high from Emerson’s weed earlier that day. Emerson murmured something that made Jinxx burst out laughing, and the younger man curled his head into the vampire’s chest. When Emerson looked up... that’s when CC heard it. A mumbled “I love you,” too quiet for any normal person to hear - but CC caught it. Oh, fucking finally. Looks like his interference the previous night had worked. He faintly registered that he was the only other person in the lounge, and quietly stood up to pad over to them.

“You’re welcome.” CC was noticeably smug as he whispered in Jinxx’s ear, and the other vampire glared up at him.

“Fuck off,” Jinxx growled back at him, “I was hoping we’d be able to keep it secret for a little while.”

Emerson looked up, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek before he added, “I thought it’d be fun to confuse the others by not telling them. They deserve it after interfering so much.”

CC smiled. That was evil, but he supposed Emerson was right - the others deserved it, considering how much shit they’d pulled behind Jinxx and Emerson’s backs. “Your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell them.” Emerson grinned, curling in closer to Jinxx. “Andy’s gonna lose his mind over this, you know that right?”

“That’s the fun part, dude. Now go back to whatever you were doing so I can keep cuddling my boyfriend in peace.” Jinxx pointedly looked down, kissing the top of Emerson’s head and giggling softly.

CC smiled as he went back to his seat. He had to admit, watching the others get confused over Emerson and Jinxx’s relationship status would be much more fun knowing they were, in fact, dating.

———

Well, wasn’t this just hauntingly familiar. Remington was stood at side stage watching Andy perform, and once again Emerson had decided to join him. His brother was being even more obvious that he was staring at Jinxx than he was the previous time. Remington didn’t even know that was possible. He glanced over at his brother, raising an eyebrow, and in response Emerson just shrugged, grinned, and then went right back to watching Jinxx. Sighing, Remington returned his focus to Andy. Jinxx and Emerson had been acting weird all day - then again, by most people’s standards they were always acting weird. Oh well. Guess he wasn’t getting any answers right now.

After the set, Remington watched in utter confusion Jinxx handed his guitar over to his tech before practically rushing over to Emerson. His brother immediately pulled Jinxx in for a hug, resting his head on the vampire’s chest and giggling. He looked up briefly, spotting Remington watching from the side, and nudged Jinxx. Then they were back to bickering as normal, except now they would occasionally stop to kiss and laugh at each other. He didn’t bother to come to any conclusions just yet - maybe they were dating, but then again maybe they’d start ignoring each other again soon.

———

“Darling, your idea was genius.” Jinxx and Emerson were curled up together in some disused room at the venue, the human panting softly as he came down from his orgasm. Jinxx had been just as rough as usual - the only difference now was that they could happily cuddle afterwards without any confusion about feelings. The vampire lazily nipped at Emerson’s neck after he spoke, eliciting a soft whine from his boyfriend.

“I-fuck, princess, you know how sensitive I get there-I knew it’d be a good plan. So far, only CC’s figured, and he seems happy to help us prank the others.” Emerson’s voice was hoarse and tired as he rested his head against Jinxx’s chest. “Remington might be starting to suspect it, though maybe he just wanted to make fun of me when he noticed me watching you play earlier.” Jinxx chuckled at that, kissing the human and slowly pulling him to his feet.

“Well, we shouldn’t keep them waiting. We’ve barely been able to see Andy’s reaction yet.” Jinxx mumbled softly, and Emerson laughed and tucked himself into Jinxx’s side, letting the vampire hold him protectively as they began to walk out of the venue. 

On a whim, Emerson leaned over and softly kissed Jinxx’s forehead. “Mine.”

“All yours, angel. I love you.” Jinxx grinned at his boyfriend, laughing when the younger man blushed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone else finds out. Andy is confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter, woo! Originally I wanted to get this out much sooner (before the year’s end), but between seeing family on Christmas and getting mildly drunk on NYE I didn’t find the time.

Emerson groaned softly as he woke up, eyes still heavy with sleepiness. He immediately felt Jinxx’s arms tucked gently around him, and smiled as he glanced back at his still-sleeping boyfriend. Relaxing, he settled in closer to Jinxx, pressing himself against the vampire’s chest. They were still for a moment, until Jinxx sighed against Emerson’s neck and cuddled him tighter, pressing lazy kisses and little bites to the back of the human’s throat as he woke up. “Morning, love.” Emerson’s voice was scratchy, but he was grinning tiredly as he felt his boyfriend biting him. 

“Morning, angel. Sleep well?” Jinxx pulled away from his lover’s neck for a moment, chuckling at the whine Emerson let out in response.

“Mm-yes, darling. I feel like one of the others is probably gonna come yell at me to get up soon.” Emerson looked over at the vampire, kissing him and smiling sweetly.

As if on cue, Emerson heard footsteps outside his bunk. “Wake the fuck up!” Remington sounded exhausted, but that didn’t stop him from abruptly yanking the curtain open. His brother had never followed the rule against opening someone’s curtain before, and clearly he wasn’t going to start now. “You need to ge- oh, aren’t you two just adorable.” Remington cocked an eyebrow at Jinxx. The vampire just laughed, holding Emerson closer and pressing gentle kisses to the side of his head. “Damn, normally after I mention anything about you two you’re away in seconds.....” Remington’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, are you two finally together?” 

Jinxx sighed. “Jesus, Rem, quieten down a little. Yes, we’re dating. Don’t tell the others, though - we’re seeing how long we can keep it a secret so we can watch them get confused.” Jinxx leaned forward to kiss Emerson, smiling fondly at his boyfriend.

Remington laughed. “Alright then. I won’t tell. Does anyone else know?”

“Just CC. He figured it out within like half a day.” Emerson looked up at his brother. If he was being honest, he wasn’t really surprised that Remington found out so soon - the singer had always been a little more involved in the effort to get Jinxx and Emerson together, for better or for worse.

“Well, I’m going to go now. Get the fuck up, we have to be off the bus for soundcheck soon.” With that, Remington turned and walked away, not even bothering to shut their curtain. Dammit.

———

“What’s up with them?” Andy whispered from his seat on the couch, gesturing vaguely towards Jinxx and Emerson. The show had gone great, and afterwards the two had been practically joined at the hip. Still making comments about hating each other, though. Andy swore they were going to make him actually go insane. Emerson said something to Jinxx - Andy didn’t hear what - and the other vampire grinned and pulled Emerson in close to him.

“Fuck if I know. They’ve been like this for the past 2 days.” Sebastian was incredibly confused - or at least pretending to be. His brother and Jinxx had been much more comfortable around them for the past few days - when someone made a snide comment about their affection towards each other, they’d just laugh it off and go back to cuddling. Even so, they’d still say they hate each other... but they’d giggle afterwards, as if they’d made some joke only the two of them understood. If he was being totally honest, Emerson had told him what happened days ago, but he had to keep up the act of not knowing. 

Andy groaned, stretching out as much as possible. Glancing back at Jinxx and Emerson, he could see the two of them laying down together, giggling at something in between kisses. He decided to ignore it. Maybe they’d be back to normal - whatever “normal” was for them - soon.

———

Jinxx and Emerson did not go back to normal. On the contrary, it seemed like they’d ramped up the affection even more. Not only that, but they appeared to be having some fun with, ah, not understanding what “time and place” was. Andy briefly opened one eye. They were lying down on the couch - taking up all of the space - and making out. Quite intensely. He shut his eyes again, turning up the volume of his music some more. He heard something he decidedly did not want to hear come out of Jinxx’s mouth, and quickly stood up, choosing to go hide in his and Remington’s bunk until they were done.

“What’s up, love?” Remington was sleepily scrolling on his phone, curled up on top of the duvet in the bunk. He put his phone down as Andy crawled in, pulling his boyfriend in close. He really didn’t need to hear the answer - he already knew exactly what was up - but he was enjoying Andy’s confusion at the Jinxx and Emerson situation.

“Decided to come here to get away from our friendly local exhibitionists. I swear, just thinking about whatever that relationship is makes my head hurt. One moment they’re arguing and claiming to hate each other, then they’re making out in the middle of the lounge. I just wish they’d sort themselves out already.” Andy settled down in Remington’s arms, sighing and holding the human close. 

Remington forced himself to keep a straight face - the entire point of this was to see how long Andy would take to realise - but hearing Andy comment on that relationship with absolutely no idea what was actually happening was hilarious. “Hopefully whatever’s going on now will lead to them figuring it out.” The double meaning of what he was saying wasn’t lost on Remington.

———

“Ceese, darling, come here.” Jake made grabby hands towards his boyfriend as the younger vampire walked towards him, and CC happily responded by wrapping his arms tightly around Jake and smiling as they cuddled. Lonny was sat on his bunk alone, and on a whim CC reached out to pull him over too, Jake immediately recognising what he was doing and shuffling over to make space for the bassist. Lonny yelped slightly when CC grabbed him, but relaxed quickly and settled in.

“Hey, CC, genuine question.” Lonny looked up at his friend, blushing slightly when Jake took the opportunity to gently give him a kiss in the forehead.

“What’s up, dude?” CC affectionately tucked his arms around Lonny and Jake. It wasn’t easy fitting all three of them into the bunk, but it was comfortable enough.

“Are Jinxx and Emerson finally dating? They’ve been acting different for the past couple days, Andy and Sebastian have no idea, and Remington won’t give me an actual answer.”

CC sighed slightly. He knew he was supposed to keep it a secret, but he guessed it Lonny was directly asking him that meant he’d already figured it out on his own. “Yes, they are.”

“Damn, fucking finally. Any idea when it happened?” Jake piped up suddenly, smiling at his boyfriend and Lonny.

“They didn’t tell me, but I reckon it was after we yelled at Jinxx to go look after Emerson that one night. Also, guys, don’t tell Andy or Sebastian. Emerson and Jinxx are playing some sort of game to see how long it’ll take them to realise.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Lonny closed his eyes, relaxing into the other vampires’ arms. God, he wished they could do this more often.

“Get a fucking room, you two!” There went his brief moment of peace. Lonny didn’t need to open his eyes to know Andy was yelling at Jinxx and Emerson - the pair had been... less than discrete lately. “Oh, and your idea of hatred is legitimately infuriating to watch.”

“One: we still have like a week until another hotel night. Two: you aren’t one to talk after what you did with Remington on the other couch yesterday. Three: our relationship is our own and you finding it annoying is hilarious.” Jinxx was slightly irritated that Andy had interrupted him, but the other vampire’s reaction was gold. He laid down on top of Emerson, holding his boyfriend close. “Love you.” He was quiet as he murmured it into Emerson’s ear, but the noise Andy made in reaction showed he clearly heard it.

“Wait.” Andy was not sure if he imagined what he heard. Sure, Emerson and Jinxx had been particularly affectionate with each other lately... but they’d been like this in the past, too. “Are you two actually fucking dating now?”

Emerson giggled, pressing a kiss to Jinxx’s cheek before looking up at Andy. “Took you long enough. Everyone else already figured, or CC told them.”

“Love, when did Sebastian find out?” Jinxx moved away slightly to let Emerson sit up, pulling him in close as they took in Andy’s surprised expression.

“He knew since the start, he just agreed to pretend not to know. Do you really think he’d let me keep it secret from him?” Jinxx made a face at that, laughing as his boyfriend kissed him.

“Finally! Fucking finally!” Andy was laughing too, despite himself, leaning down to pat Jinxx on the head. “Took you long enough to figure out your feelings. Anyways, when are we getting CC and Jake to tell Lonny they both have crushes on him?”

Emerson burst out laughing. “Figure we should do it soon. It’s the least we can do after CC managed to get me and Jinxx together.”

“Andy, don’t pat me on the head like that. But I agree, angel. It’s the least we can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda sad to have this fic over, but there’s still much more left in this AU. Going to work on some one-shots for a bit before I start on the next big multi chapter fic.


End file.
